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At the University of Wisconsin, Scott Tolzien was a two-time academic All-Big Ten selection who graduated with a 3.6 GPA and interned at Merrill Lynch.

The quarterback’s intelligence inspires the question: Did the Packers sign him for the vast storehouse of potentially useful information in his beautiful mind?

Five days after he was released by the 49ers, Tolzien was signed to Green Bay’s practice squad Sunday. And the transaction inspires an additional storyline as the 49ers prepare to face – guess who? – in Week 1.

As a member of the practice squad, Tolzien won’t play when the Packers visit San Francisco on Sunday, but he could play a role before kickoff. After spending his first two NFL seasons with Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman, Tolzien has an encyclopedic knowledge of the 49ers’ offense.

And Tolzien won’t be the only ex-49ers quarterback who could provide insight: Today, the Packers signed Seneca Wallace to serve as their backup behind Aaron Rodgers.

Wallace, who spent less than 10 days with the 49ers before he was released Saturday, doesn’t possess Tolzien’s knowledge of San Francisco’s system. But he’ll be plenty motivated to offer help given his odd exit in San Francisco.

After Wallace didn’t travel with the team to Thursday’s preseason finale in San Diego, Jim Harbaugh said the nine-year veteran was planning to retire.

“That’s where it was left,” Harbaugh said.

Wallace subsequently strongly disagreed. He told the Des Moines Register he felt the 49ers only signed him to gain leverage with backup quarterback Colt McCoy, who restructured his contract two days after Wallace arrived on Aug. 22. He said he wanted to leave the team because it was a less-than-ideal situation, not because he was done playing football.

“For (Harbaugh) to come out and say that, ‘Hey, Seneca’s planning on his retirement’ … I don’t think that’s even 100 percent fair for him to come out and say that because I don’t even know him,” Wallace said. “I think that should be my decision.”

The Packers didn’t bring Tolzien and Wallace aboard solely for a one-week information download. They are the only quarterbacks on their roster behind Rodgers, and the Packers’ interest in Tolzien isn’t surprising since he played at Wisconsin and grew up about 200 miles away in Rolling Meadows, Ill.

In addition, any edge even Tolzien could provide could be miniscule. He was released Aug. 27 and, two days later, Kaepernick said the 49ers had yet to begin preparing for the Packers following the preseason finale in San Diego. That is, Tolzien didn’t have access to the Week 1 game plan, which will draw upon a high-volume playbook that makes prepping for the 49ers difficult.

Still, Green Bay will mine their new quarterbacks for information, particularly given the dreadful performance of its defense against the 49ers last season. In two losses, Green Bay allowed an average of 37.5 points and 478 total yards. In San Francisco’s divisional-playoff win, Colin Kaepernick rushed for 181 yards, which prompted Green Bay’s defensive staff to trek to Texas A&M in the offseason to receive a tutorial on how to stop the read option.

Now they will have Professors Tolzien and Wallace, who are in a situation many NFL players find themselves in when relocating. After safety Craig Dahl signed with the 49ers in March, he detailed how his former team, the Rams, had unlocked some of the secrets to San Francisco’s offense during a post-signing sit-down.

In response, St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher shrugged.

“First off, any time a player that’s involved in the system changes addresses, there’s always going to be some sort of debriefing,” Fisher said. “That always happens, so that’s not unusual.”